Looking for Suggestions for Seasonally Flooded Soil

Tim Reisdorf

Posts: 3

Location: Lindstrom, MN Zones 3/4

posted 3 years ago

We have about half an acre that is flooded from April through July. Does anybody have suggestions for helpful plants (food/forage/etc) that might do well in such a location? I'm in zone 3/4 near the border of MN/WI.

A bit more information - the land is located between 2 lakes and is a 'rift' between them. The Spring runoff flooding brings much soil from the surrounding dry land and there are many gullies in the area. There is little to no current in the water from one lake to the other. I've seen no fish, but there are plenty of turtles and frogs. Duckweed likes to grow there now. We had significant precip of Winter snow and Spring rain and the depth of the water was about 5 ft at its deepest spot. It has been slowly receding since snowmelt. I suspect it will just be muddy at the end of July as happened last year.

Thank you for any suggestions you may have.

Tim

Tom OHern

Posts: 236

Location: Seattle, WA

12

posted 3 years ago

Wild rice seems like a natural fit seeing as it is native to the area and loves the water.

I know, you think these won't do well in the frozen northland, but climate change is a comin' and in a couple more decades you will have the jump on all the people wanting to have such a nice tree. You will have to mulch them very, very well the first couple of winters, but once they get established, they can tolerate your winters. Send me a PM with your mailing address and you can start some seeds next week.

Tim Reisdorf

Posts: 3

Location: Lindstrom, MN Zones 3/4

posted 3 years ago

Tom, your suggestion of wild rice is a good one. However, I think that the soil needs to have standing water all the time. I don't know that it would survive until harvest when the water is gone. I've always associated cranberries with swampy land - is this viable?

Tim : We have wild cranberries here in extreme northern NY, Zone 4-ish , also some people are starting new fields of cranberries, mostly the fields are only flooded
for harvest ! hope this helps ! Big AL

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John Elliott

pollinator

Posts: 2310

77

posted 3 years ago

Tim, I got them off in the mail, so you should be able to start them this week. I'd suggest keeping them in pots through this coming winter, and maybe even the next. If you let them get about 6' tall in a 5 gallon pot, then they should be big enough and have a root system deep enough to make it through your winters.